Forever with the Bartender (The Forever Collection Book 6)

by Allie York

  “I’m not dropping this, Kat. You’re coming home with me!” Will turns and yells. I shove him between the shoulder blades, and he stumbles out into the night. Nate’s there, smile on his face, tattooed arms crossed.

  Will tries to walk off, but I catch him by the back of his polo. Who the fuck wears a polo? I turn him to face me and step into his space, I want him to hear me and there be no mistake. “You come here again, you go near her again, you contact her again, and Nate will hold you while I beat your ass. Do you understand, Will?”

  He takes a step back, shoving my hand from his shirt. “Fuck you.” He tries to turn again, but I grab his arm. Will spins to face me, eyes wild and angry. “Feel good that you bagged the rich bitch? Make you feel like you fucking accomplished something? Just remember, I had her first.” He snorts a laugh.

  I step in again, leaning close to his ear. “No. I had her first. In that pretty wedding dress. Those fuck me heels digging into my back. Moaning my name.” It was a low blow. I’m not normally the type to fuck and tell, but the man needed an attitude adjustment. He starts to swing on me, balling his hand to hit me. I grab his wrist, twist his hand behind him and pull up. He squeaks in pain. “Now get the fuck out of here and don’t contact her again. The only fucking thing you’re going to do is mail her all her shit. If I see you again, I won’t be so nice.” I give him a final shove down the sidewalk and release his wrist. He stumbles and disappears into the darkness. I pass Nate with a nod, and he returns it.

  Inside things are back to normal. We have an hour till closing and then I have plans. Big ones. I make it to Kat where she has a glass tipped to the side, filling it with a dark amber beer, trying her hardest to get the foam just right. I wait til she’s done and holds it up to the light. I guess she’s satisfied because she slides it to a man and he takes a drink, winking at her. The possessive adrenaline coursing through me almost takes the guy out, but I recognize him and stop dead. Local foreman and family man, Everett Jennings, was being nice, not hitting on my woman. I’ve never met a man more in love with his wife than that guy. He tips his head in greeting and I return it before gathering Kat in my arms and burying my face in her hair.

  “You’re okay?” She sounds equal parts relieved and questioning. She grabs my chin and turns my head from side to side to look at my face.

  “Wait, you thought he’d have a chance to hit me? Ouch darlin’.” I smile at her.

  She shrugs. “I figured he’d try a sucker punch.”

  “Oh. He did. After I told him exactly where you wanted to be and why.” I wink at her, and her eyes go wide. “He was under the impression he had you first. I had to set the record straight.” I lean close to her ear, flicking my tongue over the shell. “Now let’s close up so I can have you second too.” I back up and watch her face turn red. I send her a wink and start cleaning up, closing out tabs, and showing her how to close O’Malley’s. If things go my way, we could do this every night, forever, and I’d be a happy man. I just have to convince her she needs to let her old life go and stay here with me.

  “Roni!” I yell at her as she comes from the bathroom. Nate checked out for the day, and Kat’s busy finishing up the mopping.

  “Yo!” Roni yells back.

  “Kat. Tips.” I want her to feel like one of us, like she belongs here in the bar with me. I kept careful track of her tips today, so at the end of the day, any cash she wasn’t handed came to her like it should. It’s not a lot, but it’s something. Roni holds her hand out and I slap the cash and her paycheck in it. She throws up a peace sign, blows a kiss at Kat, and heads for the door.

  “Tips?” Kat wipes sweat off her forehead and leans on the mop. It’s a big place and mopping it is no joke. Especially in those heels. I offered to help, but she wasn’t having it.

  “Yeah.” I flip the bills out and hand them to her. She looks from the wad of bills to me and back.

  “I already have tips.” Kat pulls the cash patrons handed her and waves it.

  “Card tips. All yours.” I take the mop, put it in the bucket, and start rolling it back to the stockroom. “Go flip the locks for us darlin’.” I hear the tap of her heels on the floor and the click of the locks before the door swings shut behind me. A few seconds later, Kat follows, and I step out from behind a stack of boxes to grab her around the waist. Kat screams, I laugh and kiss the back of her neck.

  “You scared me to death. Oh my gosh I screamed like a little girl.” She smiles, but the smile fades when she sees the look on my face. Her plump bottom lip vanishes between her teeth and lust clouds her expression.

  “I’m gonna make you scream, but not like a little girl.” I pull her body against mine and kiss her.

  Chapter Eight

  Kat

  I squeal again when Drake throws me over his shoulder like a fireman and starts up the stairs, “Put me down!” I squirm and he slaps my rear with a thwack. I yelp, but it didn’t hurt. The opposite actually. I’m suddenly very excited about what’s about to happen. At the top of the steps, he sets me down, and I swat at his chest only for him to catch my hand and use it to close the space between us. Drake doesn’t kiss me like I expect, instead he drops down in front of me and pulls the sparkly heels from my feet. They get set aside before he slides out of his boots and takes my hand, leading me back to the bedroom. Instead of opening the door, he presses me against it, finally kissing me, long and slow. His tongue explores my mouth, his hands roam my body, slipping under my shirt to graze my skin. Every touch leaves a trail of fire in its wake. My shirt comes over my head and this weird fear settles in my stomach. I mean, we had sex, but no man’s ever seen me naked, and this feels… different. My bra comes next, and I feel the need to cover myself. I cross my arms over my chest and almost expect Drake to protest, but he reaches back and pulls his shirt off like all the sexy men in books do. My eyes drink him in, every muscle, ridge, and valley of his skin. He leans toward me, and I close my eyes, but instead of touching me the lights vanish. I open them and look around. It’s not pitch black, but I can barely see him.

  “Better?” His breath tickles my neck before his lips touch my skin. Hands slide up my hips to my waist and to my chest. I uncross my arms. The door behind me opens and we walk backward in the dark, bodies barely touching. When my knees hit the bed, I sit, and with a gentle nudge, I’m on my back. Drake makes quick work of my jeans and I hear the telltale zip of his coming off as well. Calloused hands run up my thighs, hot breath hits my soaked panties before they’re pushed to the side, and before I can say a word of protest, my whole body melts. I don’t know where he learned his skills and I truly don’t care. His tongue makes slow circles on my clit, then speeds up flicking, sucking, and I feel my orgasm starting low in my belly. The little touches and flirting all day have built up, leading to this, and my body is way ahead of my brain.

  “Oh god.” The words tumble out, and my thighs start trembling under his touch. He tightens his grip, holding me in place, and latches on to my clit, sucking it hard. I fall apart. My thighs shake, my back arches, lightning zips through my body. Drake laps at me relentlessly and I grip his hair, pushing him away and pulling him back. The orgasm rocks me to my soul, leaving me wrung out and breathless by the time Drake’s done with me.

  “We’re just getting started.” His voice is a low rumble in the dark and I shiver, skin prickling with goosebumps.

  “Started?” My throat’s dry, so my words come out raspy.

  “Yeah, darlin’. My turn.” I feel his weight on the bed, but my body is still humming, and I shudder at every touch, so my processing skills are slow.

  “Your turn?” Apparently, I only respond in echoing questions.

  “Slide up the bed,” Drake commands, and I do exactly as I’m asked. My head hits the pillows, and he joins me, nudging my knees apart and lowering himself over me. The tip of his cock teases me, sending tiny aftershocks through me. His lips meet mine and the pillow dips on either side of my head. Instead of the frantic, lust driven sex in the
office, Drake kisses down my neck and back up, tasting me, like he’s memorizing every inch of me. I gasp every time his hips move, his cock sliding through my wetness, tempting me to roll my hips the tiniest bit to feel him inside me.

  “Drake.” I whine and he takes my right hand, holding it over my head on the bed. My left joins it, and he crosses my wrists, pinning me to the bed with one hand and arching his hips enough so just the tip slides in. His other hand finds my nipple and the already hard peak hardens further under his touch.

  “Tell me what you want, darlin’.” The gravel in his voice paired with his thick southern accent has me ready to combust again.

  “You.” I plead with him, writhing under his muscular body. I don’t need to say another word. Drake slides into me, in one hard thrust, and our hips collide. I gasp, Drake lets out a groan that rumbles through his chest and to my lips. His tongue hits mine as he slides back out, leaving only the tip hovering at my entrance before he drives back in. My hips roll to meet his thrust for thrust while he drills into me, hitting every spot to make me moan, call his name. My release blindsides me, coming on hard and fast. I feel my muscles tighten around him, and my moans fill the room. Pleasure drowns me, filling my brain, body, flooding my senses. Drake doesn’t slow. His thrusts come harder, faster, and another wave washes over me. I feel him tense, his groans becoming deeper, more primal. His release comes on the heels of mine, pulsing inside me, drawing more from me than I ever thought possible.

  “Fuck, darlin’.” Drake collapses on me then quickly rolls off, I sigh when we’re no longer connected, but he pulls me to him, rolling me onto his heaving chest. “It’s like that pussy was made for me alone.” I think he may be right. I run my hand over the light layer of hair on his chest and sigh contentedly.

  “We should probably talk.” I’m not sure why my brain picks now for me to say these words, but they come out of my mouth, and I can’t take them back.

  “About what?” His hand comes up to cup my cheek and I swoon so hard I’d need to sit if I wasn’t lying down.

  “I need to come up with a plan. I have a whole life at home and I’m here with you, but I can’t keep avoiding what happened.” Another thought hits me and I realize I should be panicking, but I’m not. “We’ve had unprotected sex. Twice.”

  “We have.” Drake kisses the top of my head, hand still resting on my cheek. “You have a plan?” He shifts, turning more into me and reaches to pull my leg over his.

  “I don’t have a plan and we can’t be so irresponsible.” My voice squeaks a little in my new panic about my entire life and how I recklessly had sex with a stranger. Twice.

  “Relax. I have you covered.” Drake reaches over me and grabs the quilt, pulling it over us. It’s like a cocoon of Drake and I lose my train of thought for a moment. “We’re closed tomorrow. We’ll go get you some new stuff, Eden can come too. Then that fucker Will can mail you all your stuff like I told him. You can work with me until you decide you want to do something else, but you are more than welcome to stay on, and I’ll get you certified to bartend. See, I told you, it’s a plan. And who’s being irresponsible? I know exactly what I’m doing.” He answers me so smugly.

  “You’re trying to get me pregnant?” I demand. “And I can’t just move in with you. I can’t work in your bar. I have a marketing degree.” I’m not sure why my degree matters, but I do have one. It’s only a two-year degree, but I was marrying a future doctor so it didn’t matter.

  “I’ve been thinking of some fun marketing techniques. You’ve had no problem staying with me so far. Moved right into my bed like you belong here.” Drake has an answer for everything. “And I wouldn’t say I was trying to get you pregnant, but now that I’m thinking about it, putting my baby in you sounds like a surefire way to get you to stay here with me.” My body has two distinct reactions to this statement. My heart does this fluttery thing and my stomach ties in a knot.

  “I barely know you,” I whisper.

  “Maybe that’s true, but you picked me over a man you were supposed to marry yesterday and were about to throw down with a woman for touching me. So, you can keep telling me this shit isn’t real, and I’ll be here waiting for you to realize you walked in my bar for a reason and this is it.” Drake nuzzles into my hair. “Night darlin’.” I can tell the conversation is over and my brain is still a little sex hazed, so I nod slowly.

  “Night Drake.” I kiss his chest softly and fall into one of the best sleeps of my life.

  Chapter Nine

  Drake

  Sundays are a day I generally don’t look forward to, but today is different. Normally, I head down to the office, settle all the books for the week, organize receipts, and dread going to see my parents for dinner. Don’t get me wrong, my parents are great people. Saying this makes me feel like a dick, but you can only handle so much couple shit as a single person. My parents got married in their early twenties, had us, and kept on being madly in love. It was cool before Ace met Eden, but since then, my Sundays have been a whole lot of me pretending to have a bar emergency so I could bounce early. This is the first Sunday that I’ve ever understood. I’m happy for my brother. I love Eden. She makes him happy, she’s the mom of my niece or nephew, and she’s a sweet person. But watching my brother dote on a woman while I was alone bothered me way more than I’d ever admit. Now I have Kat.

  Somehow, I ended up with my back turned to the middle of the bed. I roll over, expecting to come face to face with Kat, but the bed’s empty. The sheets are cold. “Fuck!” I jump out of bed, heart leaping to my throat, and scramble in the darkness to pull on clothes. She left. She fucking left me. I laid it on way too thick last night and scared her the fuck off. My brain races a mile a minute. Where would she go? Home to Nashville? How will I get her back? I throw last night’s jeans on, grab a shirt and put it on as I rush down the hall, bumping into walls as I go. I’m going to tear Forever apart looking for her and I’ll find her if it’s the last thing I do. A smell hits me, and sounds. I pull the bottom of my shirt down and step into the kitchen. My heart instantly settles and grows three sizes.

  “Morning.” Kat turns, and her smile vanishes. “Oh. Do you need to leave?”

  I stride toward her, eating up the space in three steps. “No. darlin’. Not leaving.” I wrap my arms around her and bury my face in her neck. Kat giggles and shimmies her shoulders to get me off her. She has a stick of butter in one hand and an egg in the other. On the other side of the counter is a pan of biscuits, jelly, and two cups of coffee.

  “What is wrong with you? You came out of there like someone yelled fire. Are you okay?” She looks up at me, storm cloud eyes full of concern.

  “Nothin’. Not a damn thing. This looks good.” I step back and look her over. Gray cotton panties cover her amazing ass and only my shirt covers the rest. Her legs look fucking amazing, bare all the way down to her glittery toenails. “You look good,” I add, kissing her wild hair. The bruise on her face has hit peak coloring and started yellowing at the edges but looks like it’s healing fine.

  Normally, she’d blush, but she narrows her eyes at me. “You thought I left.” It’s not a question, she knows.

  “I was ready to come find you.” I run my hand through my hair to calm my bed head.

  “Next time I’ll cook the bacon first so you can smell that I’m still here.” Kat rolls her eyes at me and turns back to the stove to start on the eggs.

  “I’m sorry, darlin’. It scared me.” Saying the words makes me realize how true it is. The thought of Kat leaving scares the shit out of me. She cracks the egg and reaches for another. I back up, take off my pants and lay them over the chair. Now we match. She looks back, eyes my legs, and arches her eyebrow at me.

  “I wasn’t trying to scare you, but I did leave this morning.” She turns back to the stove.

  “You left the apartment?” I sip my coffee and make a face; I was too focused on her to add milk.

  “I walked all the way to the store and back. Where do
you think all this came from? Honestly, when do you eat real food?” The image of Kat strutting the six blocks to the store in those heels and back almost makes me laugh.

  “Why don’t we get you some shoes today?” I offer, sitting at the island with freshly creamed coffee, and watch her work.

  “Normally I’d say please don’t buy me things, I’ll do it myself, but my feet hurt so bad. I wasn’t even planning to wear those past the ceremony. My feet are killing me. But they are sexy.” Kat expertly flips the eggs in the pan to cook the other side.

  “Definitely sexy. Eden is coming by later to go shopping, I guess Ace will come too. Then we went to eat lunch at my parents’ place.” I sip the coffee and Kat drops the spatula. “We have lunch there every Sunday. Eden and Ace drive a truck and are gone all week, and I work all week, so we spend Sunday with our parents. Trust me, they’ll love you.” I leave my coffee to go wrap my arms around her. I press my front to her back and squeeze her middle, brushing my hands over her tits, loving the weight of them, the feel. Her ass presses into my crotch and my cock jumps to attention.

  “A few days ago, I was supposed to be married to someone else and now I’ve shacked up with you, having no job and no things. I’m sure this is exactly what they wanted for their son.” Kat’s voice drips with sarcasm and she shifts her ass against my crotch, pressing back into me when she plates the eggs. She knows what she’s doing.

  “Careful or you’ll have me fucking you in this kitchen.” I move my hands to her hips and give them a rough squeeze. Kat giggles. “I said they’ll love you and I mean it. Ace picked up Eden on the side of the road and they stayed here one weekend before he drove out with her. They got married three months later and now they’re having a baby. I think my parents can handle anything.” Kat reaches to turn off the stove and her ass curves up into her back in the sexiest way, I grip her hips tighter.